


The Courage to Change

by AdventureAddict



Series: You've Become a Meme [3]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Hair Dyeing, Humor, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Light-Hearted, Modern Era, Modern!Ed, One Shot, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:02:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27521206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdventureAddict/pseuds/AdventureAddict
Summary: When Ed comes home in a good mood with a surprise, Al isn't prepared for the sudden change and panics. But Ed shows him that identity can be whatever you make yourself into. Sounds super serious, but it's really just a silly fic about hair with some brotherly feelings thrown in. I'm just not going to tell you what Ed's done to his hair!
Relationships: Alphonse Elric & Edward Elric
Series: You've Become a Meme [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967398
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37





	The Courage to Change

**Author's Note:**

> This story totally stands on its own, you don't need to read the other ones in the "series," they're all just standalone one-shots. The only thing I may have forgotten to cover in this is that at some point, there was some time travel blip that separated the brothers, and Ed ended up in the modern world on his own for a while. Al eventually caught up, but Al is still used to their time and world, while Ed is totally adjusted by now. Alright, that's enough, I'll let you read now.

Al didn't really think anything of it when Ed came home from work in a good mood. Sure, Ed didn't often come home in a good mood, but he always said that was just part of the hazards of working retail. And he still managed to have the occasional good day here and there, like sometimes he got off a little early, or he got to spend his shift with some coworker he actually liked or something. 

The weirdest part of Ed being in a good mood when he came home was that he didn't sit down and immediately tell Al why he was in such a good mood. He just grinned and said hi to Al, gave the cat a couple of head scratches, and then asked if Al was going to need the bathroom for a bit. Al just figured Ed was going to take a shower, like he often did after work. Maybe he was just going to tell Al about why he was in a good mood after he felt a little cleaned up. 

Except... the shower didn't start immediately running after Ed locked himself in there, and Al felt himself getting suspicious. What was Ed doing in there anyway? And did Al even honestly _want_ to know what Ed was doing in there? Al managed to resist bothering Ed until there was some loud clattering and Ed let out a string of swears. 

"Um. Brother? Are you okay in there?" 

"What? I-" Another loud clatter. "...Shit. Yeah, Al, I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute!" 

Al narrowed his eyes. Somehow, that had not managed to help his suspicion at all. But he decided to still just leave Ed to... Whatever it was he was doing. Al decided that he probably didn't even want to know what Ed was doing, so it didn't matter, as long as the apartment and house were still standing at the end of it. 

Apparently "just a minute" translated to almost a couple hours in Ed language. Eventually, Al did hear the shower running, which just left Al even more confused. He was debating whether he should even try to ask Ed what was going on or not. Was it going to just be an answer that would embarrass them both? But Al was still so curious what had been going on. 

As it turned out though, Al didn't end up having to ask any question after all, because it was immediately obvious what Ed had been doing as soon as he came out into the living room. 

"Brother! What did you do to your hair?!" Al screeched, jumping to his feet. Ed smirked and did a little shrug like he was pretending to be innocent. Pretending and failing. 

"What, Al? It's just hair dye." 

Ed's entire head of hair was suddenly blue, even though it had been normal when he'd come home. But now it was bright, electric, _neon_ blue. Every last inch of it. 

"Oh my gosh, your beautiful blond hair!" Al went up to Ed and grabbed a strand of the still-wet hair. "And you've just gone and ruined it! Can't you get it out? Can't you do something?"

"Al," Ed said, raising an eyebrow at his brother. "I did this on purpose. I _like_ it. Why would I take it out before I've even had a chance to enjoy it?" 

"But your poor hair," Al said with a pout, finally dragging his eyes away from the hair and looking at Ed's eyes. Ed currently looked confused, probably because he hadn't expected a reaction like this from Al, but Al could tell he wasn't lying when he said he liked this hair. There was a certain... spark in his eyes that Al hadn't seen in a long time. He was... _happy._ And he was holding himself back from fully showing how happy he was because he didn't want to upset Al. 

Al sighed and turned away, flopping back on the couch. "I'm sorry, Brother... I was just... I was always jealous of your hair."

"Oh." Ed sat down next to Al with a frown. When they had been little, they had both had the same shade of golden hair, but as they'd gotten older, Al's had slowly darkened more and more while Ed's had stayed the same shade. "But... I really like _your_ hair. It... reminds me of mom." 

"Yeah, that's true," Al said with a small smile. "But honestly, Brother... You raised me more than her. I think you remember her better than I do. You were always the person I looked up to the most. I was always wishing I could be more like you." 

Ed sat there for a minute just blinking at Al, before he clearly got an idea and grinned. Al was worried what kind of idea Ed had gotten that would make him suddenly grin like that. "You know, Al. It's the modern era. If I can have blue hair... I mean, if you've always wanted to be blond like me, why don't we just bleach your hair and make you blond?" 

"What?" Al sat there blinking as the idea settled. He had never really thought about how he could just... _make_ his hair be whatever he wanted. And Ed did have a point, if he could just randomly decide to have blue hair, then why couldn't Al be blond? Al started smiling. 

"Yeah," Al said, slowly nodding as he slowly accepted the idea more. His grin widened. "Yeah, let's do it. I want to be blond!" 

"Yeah!" Ed pumped a fist in the air with a big grin of his own. "Go, little brother, go! I'll pick up some stuff from Sally's on the way home tomorrow!" 

Apparently, even though Ed didn't need to bleach his own hair in order to get dye to stick, he still knew something about how to bleach hair properly. He said it was something you just picked up when you hang out in the queer community long enough. Al had no idea what bleaching and dying hair had to do with being gay, but he was grateful Ed was at least able to help. Admittedly a little worried that it was _Ed_ who was going to be bleaching his hair, of all people, instead of a professional. But Ed insisted he knew what he was doing, and his way would be much cheaper, which Al couldn't really argue with. He just hoped he wouldn't regret that he hadn't argued with Ed about it. 

What Al hadn't expected was that not only would Ed do a good job with his hair, but that he would start crying as soon as he saw himself in the mirror with blond hair for the first time. Ed watched him with a frown, putting a hand on Al's shoulder. 

"Al? Are you...?" 

"I'm fine," Al said with a weak grin through the tears. "It's just... I look so much like... _you_." 

Ed snorted with a grin. "Of course you do, we're brothers. Ya walnut." 

"I know. It's just... I've had people pointing out for so long how different we are and how I'm nothing like you that sometimes I just... forget. I don't know. I just... I like knowing I've got more of you in me than people see sometimes." 

Ed stared at Al for a long minute, his eyes soft, before wrapping Al up in the tightest, longest hug they'd had since Al had managed to get to this world. Al sighed with a smile and squeezed his brother back, grinning at the strands of blue hair that had flown in his face. It was going to take a little time to get used to Ed having blue hair, sure, but it was worth it to see Ed so happy. And no hair color was ever going to change that they were still brothers. And best friends. 

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the fact that I used to have this exact shade of blue hair and it was probably the best hair color I've ever had. I can't wait until I can go back to having hair like that. Personally, I'm of the opinion that Ed's favorite color is actually some shade of blue, he just wore red for so long because of how tough it made him feel. Him actually getting the chance to wear blue means his life has calmed down a little bit. 
> 
> Where does Ed work, you ask? Uhhhh... Maybe I need to write another installment showing Ed at work. I haven't decided exactly where yet, so feel free to give me suggestions. 
> 
> Also, would people be interested in something longer and more... story-like showing when Ed first showed up in the modern world alone? Because I have a lot of ideas for that, but I've been hesitant to write something with Ed as the single only canon character. I've also had ideas for working in stuff that's happened in 2020, but, uh... Yeah, that's seemed a lot heavier of a topic, and I guess I've been trying to keep it light and fluffy so far. Feel free to let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like to see. I've got lots of ideas, but I'd love to see what other people want!


End file.
